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Extreme sports competitor Travis Pastrana became the fastest person to reach the summit of Mt. Washington on Wednesday, racing up the auto road in just 6 minutes, 20.47 seconds. Pastrana averaged 72 miles per hour on the 7.6-mile road in a special Subaru Impreza rally car.

The Mt. Washington auto road climbs 4,618 feet with an average gradient of 11.6 percent.

Remarkably, it was Pastrana's first-ever high-speed attempt to reach the summit. The previous record of six minutes and 42 seconds was set in 1998 by Frank Sprongl (below).

Pastrana's feat was part of a test session in advance of next year's return of the "Climb to the Clouds," the auto race which will be making a return to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the auto road, following a 10-year absence.

"It's amazing that he was able to drive that car to the summit in 6:20, and all the more so when you realize that he and his co-driver had just seen the auto road for the first time the day before," auto road GM Howie Wemyss said in a statement. "Our racing heritage here at the Auto Road runs deep, having started in 1904 and now Travis is part of that heritage as the fastest person to the summit by automobile."